Today was quite different and much more emotional of a day than all of the others. After a lecture at Austral University, we traveled to two different community health based clinics. One was much smaller where we learned about how their system works and how they provide free healthcare to people in need, with a focus on children. The second place we visited was primary care and there was also a school, and the whole place is ran by 5 nuns. They showed us around and we were able to interact with some of the children even though I personally speak terrible Spanish.

We then left the primary care clinics to eat lunch at Austral University, which was followed by a bus ride to the Good Samaritan, a hospice center. Hospice centers are palliative care facilities and I didn’t have a very god understanding of them until today. The man who presented to us did a great job of explaining their purpose of making their patients feel as if they are family, taking away their pain, and helping them have faith for what will come after death. It was all about showing the people they care for love and comfort in their last few days which I thought is a beautiful thing. Especially since this Good Samaritan is completely free (it is funded by donations) and meant for poor people or those living in poverty, I think it’s a very important facility to have for those who need it. When we learned the story of the young boy who was extremely poor, estranged from his family due to being gay and having HIV, and struggled with addiction I was really touched. He came into the facility untrusting and angry, and left with new found religion, brought his family back together, started supporting other patients, and met his idol.

The presentation got a little emotional for me because it helped me understand why some of my relatives, particularly my grandpa, began palliative care at Hospice. Before this trip it appeared to me as a place people are checked into once they decide they are ready for death and no longer want to continue fighting but this isn’t necessarily true in most cases. During our tour of the facility and meeting the guests their I did realize that it is nothing like the one I went to in the U.S. to see my grandpa. This hospice truly felt like a family home whereas the hospice in the U.S. just seemed like a smaller hospital to me. I’m extremely grateful that we had the opportunity to visit Good Samaritan so that I could gain a different perspective on the end of life for those with terminal diseases.